For gay Che haters, the call was coming from inside the house. When those detractors included LGBTQ viewers, the idea of Che exposed that perhaps those people simply wanted more palatable representation: more white, and more cisgender. Whether those viewers were turned off by Che’s brash persona or by the show’s semi-cringe approach to Che’s comedy - or because Miranda’s obsession with Che made a fool of the beloved character Steve (David Eigenberg) - Che became an object of cruel mockery, and the progenitor of a million “Hey, it’s Che Diaz” memes and jokes about their Netflix “comedy concert,” as Miranda nerdily called it. But to some old-school “Sex and the City” viewers, Che was a bridge too far in the show’s attempt to be more inclusive by adding characters of color to the core friend group of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). Ramírez’s personal evolution has taken place largely in public after they came to prominence by winning a Tony in 2005 for “Spamalot,” and then co-starring on “Grey’s Anatomy” for 10 seasons, and their casting on the iconic television franchise is unquestionably a leap forward in representation.Īnd Che certainly had their fans, who appreciated Ramírez’s performance, and understood what King and “And Just Like That …” were doing with the character. The character served as a Rorschach test for viewers. I want to show more of Che rather than less of Che.
“I want to show the dimension of Che that people didn’t see, for whatever reason - because they were blinded, out of fear or terror. “One of my burning passions about Season 2 is Che,” he says. King himself is effusive when he speaks about Ramírez - and about Che. While showrunner Michael Patrick King has just started the writers’ room, Ramírez says he’s offered them a preview: “The first season was judging a book by its cover, and Season 2 is about reading the book.” When we last saw Che, they were heading to Los Angeles with Miranda (who’d dyed her gray hair red again to represent her sexual awakening), and the new season of “And Just Like That …” will pick up three weeks later. Sara Ramírez, the nonbinary actor who plays the nonbinary podcaster, comedian and aspiring sitcom star who falls in love with Miranda Hobbes and breaks up her marriage, will be back on the second season of “And Just Like That …” with an even more robust storyline. In just 10 episodes of “And Just Like That …,” HBO Max’s successful revival of “Sex and the City,” Che Diaz became the most visible (and often most ridiculed) queer character on TV.